Who Ski's Almost All Conditions?

[ozski]

Springtime here in AU so we are getting wind from all directions, only once in the last few months have I put the gear back in the car without skiing for the 10 minute drive back home. What I am noticing is that on the good days its all sooo easy, training in gusty wind and light chop is certainly not hurting.. probably the opposite.

[SkiJay]

Really windy days are my favorite excuse for drills or shadowing the course.

[Moggie]

@ozski same conditions here in Perth at the moment. I'll ski in almost any conditions, it’s a good work out and as you say, it makes it feel so much easier when the conditions improve.

[mwetskier]

we have a friend who has currently been skiing in water in the 40s and air in the 30s well below what i could tolerate.

[LZywicki1]

Summers short, I'll ski in almost any conditions, it’s a good work out. As far as low temps that what wet and dry suits and heaters in the boat are for.

[SkiJay]

Seat-heaters: the best ski boat accessory since Zero Off.

[RazorRoss3]

Practice I'll ski anything short of white caps, anything short of pouring rain (and that doesn't always stop me), and on my home course you can throw some fishing boat wake in there as well. In tournament the drivers say they can't drive the course before I say I won't try the course. The university of Iowa waterski club got 3rd at 2012 conference because we all practice in crap all the time and conference was a 15mph straight up the lake all weekend and was 60 degrees and no one else could ski in the cold and the wind. Since the standard tournament comes equip with a 10+ wind I think that practicing in anything just makes you more prepared for when it counts.

[bogboy]

All year around, both free skiing at our larger lake, and at the course lake. Dry suit, hot water shower, defrost and under dash heaters, goggles for some rain, neoprene hoody, and my wife loves our blanket that plugs into the heater hose.

[bogboy]

(In the Pacific Northwest)

[Skoot1123]

Definitely skiing in the bad stuff makes the glass all that much better!! When driving 25 minutes to the lake though, it is nice to have good conditions - but we have never turned around and said forget it. A bad day of skiing is better than a good day at work!

[thager]

Rarely. I live on the lake so I pick and choose. If I can find good water I may freeski otherwise I avoid rougher water in the course to reduce the likelihood of injury.

[DooSPX]

I tried that once on our lake in FL. its a large lake and the slightest breeze with whip the lake with 1 foot+ white caps quick. Many boats have been swamped by the sudden wind that whips the lake. It beat the hell out of the boat, me and the driver as well as swamping the boat while waiting for my trailer to be backed in. Drain plug and bilge pump were working together to drain the water that occurred in less then 3 minutes.

No thank you! If the lake is not glass, the boat stays in the garage and I whine while having some Crown.

[MISkier]

We had a bad spring here and I skied in more wind than usual just to get water time. Normally, I would be irritated after my 100 mile drive to have bad conditions. But, this year, I actually welcomed that somewhat to help me train for less-than-optimal tournament conditions. I have a huge problem running anything in a brisk tailwind (basically over 8-10 mph). I probably need to do more of that. Skiing in wind is OK, but I start to resist when the chop is over a foot or so - too easy to get hurt and miss out on the season. We ski in cold. Not too much skiing in the rain, though.

[Joeprunc]

We can just about always find a calm section to ski whether its open water or a course. Its more a matter of finding a second and third some days.

 

Now that fall is here our winds are very calm. Yesterday it was so calm, your depth perception was off, and it was actually a bit difficult to ski.

[Razorskier1]

Season is short -- I'll ski in almost anything. If I can't get course water, I'll find a reasonable shoreline and just work on keeping my head and shoulders level at all times. Like my son said, oftentimes tournaments come with wind. I don't worry about that because I ski wind all the time.

[thompjs]

As long as sun is out and water temp + air temp = 160 I'm in. (and light winds)

[ToddL]

I read somewhere that Andy Mapple skis when the wind is blowing, regardless of direction. He commented that when the tournament date comes up, you have no guarantees about where the wind will blow and how strongly. If you've practiced in it, you know what to expect.

 

This probably applies to mist and light rain...

 

I sort of agree with this, short of unsafe conditions. When practicing in the windy stuff, you have to adjust expectations and likely adjust your starting speeds/line lengths. You probably will not "PB" in near white-caps, but you better have an opening pass that you can consistently run... Come tournament time, you will not be guessing about where to start at or what your score will likely end up. You will know from experience. Further, you will have some been there done that experience with regards to things like: softening the ankles around the buoy during choppy water, leaning just a touch longer into the cross wind, nailing the stack and white water so you can edge change a touch earlier with the cross wind at your back, knowing how to ski head wind vs. tail wind, combining the tail/cross for diagonal, etc.

 

[SkiJay]

I have more trouble with my opener on perfect mirror-like glass than I do in a healthy wind.

[ToddL]

@SkiJay - Ha! Agreed. We've had a particularly windy ski season in Central Tx this year, so when the glass shows up on the water, I am a bit out of my comfort zone... I need a little ripple to "feel" how the ski is moving through the water!

[SBFL]

i stay outta the course when theres too much wind

[ral]

@ToddL & @Skijay, it is always a challenge to try to explain to non-course junkies why mirror-like glass is not perfect conditions...

[Brewski]

I foot more than slalom in colder water as I can jump in and out of the boat. My personal boat is an outboard Sanger . I own a dry suit. So unless there is ice........

[6balls]

@brewski outboard sanger rocks!

[KcSwerver]

Today's ski was in 6-8 inch chop at times. It's just that time of year, when you can't say no to a ride behind the mastercraft butter.

[jimbrake]

Chuck Norris skis not almost all, but ALL conditions.

[BraceMaker]

@kcswerver - you know its a bad day when you have 6-8" chop in the "good water" and have to ski through 1' white caps to get the boat up to speed before the good stuff.

[boarditup]

I have wrap around safety glasses treated with Rain-X for skiing and driving in the rain. When I skied on public water, we skied every time we could in the rain so we could get flat water.

[DW]

Yes, particularly at the beginning of the season & when you realize you are getting those last few precious runs in at the end.

 

The corollary to the question is: how bad an injury does it take to get you off the water?

[Bruce_Butterfield]

The harder conditions you train in, the easier it will be in tournaments. There are few things better than listening to the other skiers whine about how bad the conditions are and thinking to yourself "I ski in worse stuff than this all the time and its no problem".

[Razorskier1]

Agree with @Bruce_Butterfield. Sometimes on the dock hear guys looking at the wind and water trying to figure out how to change their plan to run "x" pass into the headwind. I just go ski because I train in wind, cold, and sometimes rain with some frequency. If I wasn't willing to do that, I'd only be able to ski about two days a week.

[bigtallweed]

When you ski at a public lake you do not live at, boat rollers, wind, chop, fog, and rain is just part of skiing. There are lots of good condition sets but it's a roll of the dice what you are going to get.

[Ham_Wallace]

Public lakes rock!

[gsm_peter]

I can live with some wind, waves, fog, bad light etc.

But I did not enjoy rain. It hurts my eayes and cases the contact lenses to pop out of place.

Normally I go out in wind waves below 15inch.

However, that usually end up in some falls with quite some pain. (needs pain killer, can't sleep well etc)

So now I am getting more and more reluctant to ski in bad conditions.

 

 

Our club is really open for wind from West. Type 10 miles open water or so.

The other day a friend told me they had a race in early 70ths with type 25 mph west wind.

The waves was 3 feet and he barly managed a few bois on 30@15 off (he is a 36-35 off skier)

[Ham_Wallace]

If you can't run 35 in bass boat wakes, stay home!

 

[GAJ0004]

April-October here in Pennsylvania and Ohio. If I really wanted to push it maybe mid November on occasion may be possible. I like to get the boat inside and dried out before the snow flies. When the whitecaps get to be more than 5 inches high, then I bag it.. On Lake Latonka the course is out in the middle of a lake that is a half mile wide so any wind above 10 MPH makes whitecaps..

[SkiJay]

We had a stiff 13 mph head/tail wind yesterday and my daughter and I did three sets of whips each working on head position, handle low & tight, early edge changes, exaggerated stack, and downwind rope control, all using video. By the end, the heavy chop, was hardly an issue, and our headwind and tailwind compensations were really tuned up. I'm thinking we made more progress than everyone who stayed home.

[allycat]

i watch weatherzone on the old computer and try to pick my ski days by the wind as ski on a public dam thats rather large and gets rough.went out last friday was the only ski boat out there in great conditions (glass but found my new radar vice likes a few ripples)i hope you blokes with private lakes apreciate it i only see this a few times a year and just ski in the best water i can find(allso kneeboarded and bisced with the kids and my youngest fella of 8 skied for a few miles made me proud)

[skihard]

I'm pretty darned flexible.....if I can find a driver?????

[19skier]

PB on 1st Nov. here in NW Montana! No tournaments for me but feels good to finally improve after the last few injuries.

[skihard]

Got a few passes in today in the wind

 

[schafer]

@19skier that's awesome. I also got a PB on nov. 1st in Alberta. Last set of the year. Pulled the course right after and good thing we did as we got 12 inches of snow on the ground in the last two days. Water temp was 36.5° perhaps I was afraid to fall in the water and that's why I skied so well

[19skier]

@schafer It is good to know there are "others" out there. Congrats n condolences both. We are usually ice free until early dec. so the course is still floating for awhile. Our water is still 47F. but admit it does encourage no-fall skiing.